Ahh, sorry, it is possible to pass -1, wrong line, the correct one is below github.com/reactor/reactor-netty/blame/main/reactor-netty-core/src/main/java/reactor/netty/resources/LoopResources.java#L172

Thanks for the post. I am trying to understand the situation. My first observation is that in 2025, the current Netty does not accept negative numbers, see github.com/reactor/reactor-netty/blob/main/reactor-netty-core/src/main/java/reactor/netty/resources/LoopResources.java#L136